Google has yet to address an alleged YouTube-Windows Phone compatibility issue, Microsoft says, despite the fact that Google is under antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad and the issue is allegedly more than a year old.

From a January 2 blog post by Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner:

You might think that Google would be on its best behavior given it's under the bright lights of regulatory scrutiny on two continents, particularly as it seeks to assure antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe that it can be trusted on the basis of nonbinding assurances that it will not abuse its market position further.

However, as we enter 2013, that is not the case. Here's just one example: We continue to be dogged by an issue we had hoped would be resolved by now: Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering consumers a fully featured YouTube app for the Windows Phone.

Google bought YouTube in 2006. Microsoft claims that since that time, Google "has put in place a growing number of technical measures to restrict competing search engines from properly accessing it for their search results." Microsoft officials claim Google has provided Android phones and iPhones with access to YouTube metadata that enables search for video categories, location of favorites, the ability to see ratings, and other features that are blocked for Windows Phone users.

"As a result, Microsoft's YouTube 'app' on Windows Phones is basically just a browser displaying YouTube's mobile Web site, without the rich functionality offered on competing phones," said company officials in a blog post from 2011.

"Microsoft is ready to release a high quality YouTube app for Windows Phone," Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith said in the 2011 post. "We just need permission to access YouTube in the way that other phones already do, permission Google has refused to provide."

Not being much of an app person or a YouTube fan, I haven't been bothered by any YouTube-Windows Phone compatibility issues, myself. Anyone out there feel it's been a factor in deciding whether or not to "Bing it"?

About the author

Mary Jo Foley has been a tech journalist for almost 30 years. She is editor of ZDNet's "All About Microsoft" blog. She authored "Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era" and co-hosts the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT Network.
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